This invention relates to a rear wheel steering arrangement for a motor vehicle, and in particular to a steering arrangement where all four wheels of the car are steered.
Various designs of four wheel steering systems are known. In such systems, the front wheels are always the fundamental steering components, and turning of the front wheels is the major controlling factor on the steering of the vehicle. The rear wheels are steered to a lesser degree; at low speeds to assist in parking and manoeuvring and at high speeds to improve handling and stability of the vehicle. At low speeds it is conventional to turn the rear wheels in the same direction as the front wheels whilst at high speeds it is conventional to turn the rear wheels in the opposite sense to the front wheels.
These different requirements are accomplished in various different ways by known four wheel steering systems, but it is normally the case that the rear wheel suspension/drive/steering arrangement requires considerable modification as compared with a conventional vehicle with non-steered rear wheels. This leads to added complexity and cost, and may compromise the suspension layout.